


Fools Rush In

by HazelNMae



Series: Tommy and Alfie [3]
Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Heart Break, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-11 14:04:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19929277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HazelNMae/pseuds/HazelNMae





	Fools Rush In

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cheeky_blinders](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheeky_blinders/gifts).



Tommy had never been a fan of music. 

He loved to dance, with the right partner, of course. But he never found much use of listening to music without the purpose of dancing to it–without the excuse to hold someone close.

Alfie, on the other hand, ever the romantic, loved music.

He loved to listen to it while he cooked, while he wrote letters, while he did nothing at all. To him, music _was_ the purpose–there was no end to be had from it.

So when Alfie bought him a gramophone for their fifth anniversary, Tommy pretend to be enraptured by it, kissed his husband on the lips, and vowed to listen to it daily. 

And he had. Mainly because Alfie put on a different record each night as they read and worked quietly together in the study, but sometimes because he truly wanted to honor his promise and never wanted to hurt Alfie’s feelings.

Even now, with Alfie gone nearly ten years, Tommy still uses the gramophone every day. 

Last week, their daughter gave him a record for his birthday. The card on it read, “I believe this is something papa would have enjoyed.”

He hugged her and thanked her for the thoughtful gift, unable to listen to it for a week because every time he saw the name “papa” written in her handwriting, he had to fight back tears. 

Their love had blossomed quickly and they’d planned to confess their feelings on the same night. Alfeie had started, which almost immediately fell into rambling he’d struggled to dig himself back out of until Tommy interrupted. 

“Alfie, are you trying to tell me something?” he’d asked.

“Well, yea, I suppose I am. See the thing is, um–”

“You’re in love with me,” Tommy asked plainly, wanting to help the poor man out of his misery.

Alfie would have thought Tommy indifferent about the whole thing, if he hadn’t immediately laughed and sat back in his chair.

“I was going to confess the same thing,” Tommy added.

And Alfie beamed. 

They’d been married a few months later, both men already frustrated with the amount of time they’d spent pining and not acting on their feelings for one another.

But his diagnosis came in the first year. And the illness quickly took hold of him. 

Alfie had insisted that Tommy was too young to have a dying husband, but Tommy would have no talk of that. Instead, they went on living the life they’d wanted. They adopted their daughter the next year, bought a small house at the sea for the fresh breezes and salt water baths to soothe Alfie’s irritated skin. They went on, as people do when they’re in love. 

And now, Tommy sat with the record, debating whether or not he was ready to hear it.

He opened the packaging, removed the vinyl disk, and carefully placed it on the relic of a gramophone, which should have long ago been replaced by an electric record player, but he would never have the heart to throw out.

There was no denying when the song started what his daughter had meant. Alfie would have loved this song; would have insisted Tommy dance to it, even in their old age and with their aching joints; would have sang it loudly as he labored over a meal in the kitchen; would have laid his head back on the sofa, petting their dog as he let the song wash over him.

And in that vein, Tommy stood, took a long swig of whiskey, and swayed where he stood. He closed his eyes and, for the millionth time since losing him, imagined Alfie’s arms wrapped around his frame. 

And the song played on: 

Wise men say only fools rush in  
But I can’t help falling in love with you  
Shall I stay?  
Would it be a sin  
If I can’t help falling in love with you?

Like a river flows surely to the sea  
Darling so it goes  
Some things are meant to be  
Take my hand, take my whole life too  
For I can’t help falling in love with you

Like a river flows surely to the sea  
Darling so it goes  
Some things are meant to be  
Take my hand, take my whole life too  
For I can’t help falling in love with you  
For I can’t help falling in love with you


End file.
